Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to establish a Sudanese resettlement scheme to provide a safe and legal route for Sudanese citizens seeking asylum in the UK.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The UK has a proud history of supporting refugees and providing protection to those in need. Since 2015, we have offered a place to over half a million individuals seeking safety in the UK.
The UK continues to welcome refugees through our existing resettlement schemes which include the global UK Resettlement Scheme (UKRS), Community Sponsorship and the Mandate Resettlement Scheme. While our safe and legal routes are some of the most generous anywhere, we cannot accommodate everyone who wants to come to the UK.
The UK has no plans to establish a designated resettlement scheme for Sudanese refugees. We will however continue to provide safe and legal routes to the UK for those that require it.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to support Sudanese (a) refugees arriving in the UK and (b) students and other visitors in the UK at the onset of the crisis.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
We are proud of our long-standing tradition of welcoming refugees and individuals in need through resettlement schemes and have welcomed over half a million people through safe and legal routes since 2015.
The UK currently operates several resettlement schemes which Sudanese nationals may be eligible for, including the UK Resettlement Scheme (UKRS) and the Community Sponsorship Scheme. However, the UK had finite resources and is so not able to provide tailored humanitarian routes in every circumstance.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has made an estimate of the number of people from Hong Kong who have been deported from the UK in each of the last five years.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office publishes data on asylum applications in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’.
Data on the number of Hong Kong citizens in the UK awaiting a decision on their asylum application are published in table Asy_D03 of the ‘Asylum applications, decisions and resettlement detailed datasets’. The latest data relates to the end of December 2022. Please note that data for year ending March 2023 will be published 25 May 2023.
Data on the number of people from Hong Kong who have been returned from the UK in each of the last 5 years are published in table Ret_D01 of the ‘Detention and Returns detailed datasets’. The latest data relates to the end of December 2022. Data for year ending March 2023 will be published 25 May 2023.
Please note that deportations are a subset of enforced returns.
Guidance on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbooks. Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Hong Kong citizens in the UK are awaiting a decision on their asylum application as of 16 May 2023.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office publishes data on asylum applications in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’.
Data on the number of Hong Kong citizens in the UK awaiting a decision on their asylum application are published in table Asy_D03 of the ‘Asylum applications, decisions and resettlement detailed datasets’. The latest data relates to the end of December 2022. Please note that data for year ending March 2023 will be published 25 May 2023.
Data on the number of people from Hong Kong who have been returned from the UK in each of the last 5 years are published in table Ret_D01 of the ‘Detention and Returns detailed datasets’. The latest data relates to the end of December 2022. Data for year ending March 2023 will be published 25 May 2023.
Please note that deportations are a subset of enforced returns.
Guidance on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbooks. Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of proscribing Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
Whilst we keep the list of proscribed organisations under review, it is Government policy not to comment on whether a group is under consideration for proscription.
To proscribe an organisation, the Home Secretary must have a reasonable belief that it is concerned in terrorism. This means the organisation participates or commits; prepares for; promotes, encourages or unlawfully glorifies; or is in some way otherwise concerned in terrorism. As well as considering whether the statutory test for proscription has been satisfied, the Home Secretary’s decision to proscribe must be necessary and proportionate, having taken into account all relevant factors.
The UK Government has long been clear about its concerns over the continued destabilising activity of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The UK is committed to working with the international community to ensure Iran is held to account.
The UK has close to 300 sanctions in place against Iran, including on the IRGC in its entirety. We will continue to use all tools at our disposal to protect the UK and our interests from any Iran-linked threats.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what legal routes of entry to the UK exist for Sudanese national family members of British nationals.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Family Immigration Rules, contained in Appendix FM to the Immigration Rules (Immigration Rules - Immigration Rules Appendix FM: family members - Guidance - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)) provide for close family members of British citizens and persons settled in the United Kingdom to come to the UK on a route to settlement. These routes are available to partners, parents, children and adult dependent relatives. Each route has specific requirements which must be met.
Each application is considered on its merits and on a case-by-case basis taking into account the individual circumstances. Details of the routes available to family members can be found at: Family in the UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason Biometric Residence Permits cards expire prior to a holder's right to remain in the UK ends; and what assessment she has made of potential additional administrative costs relating to cards expiring in that way.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The maximum validity period of a biometric residence permit (BRP) is 10 years, even if the status holder has indefinite leave. This is to ensure the holder updates their facial image at least once every 10 years, in line with UK passports and UK photo driving licences.
Our aim is to fully transition to eVisas by the end of 2024 and for this reason we are no longer issuing BRPs with an expiry date after 2024, even when the person’s permission will expire after that date.
Once we cease issuing BRPs and existing ones have expired and been removed from circulation, there will be no further BRPs issued, and they will have no extant use. Therefore, the administrative costs associated with issuing and maintaining BRP cards will reduce over time.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what data her Department holds on the number of (as) refugees and (b) asylum seekers in Bermondsey and Old Southwark constituency; and if she will provide a breakdown of those who are from (i) Yemen, (ii) Eritrea, (iii) Afghanistan, (iv) Syria and (v) Libya.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The latest published Immigration Statistics detail the number of supported asylum seekers accommodated in each local authority area. These statistics can be found at : https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/asylum-and-resettlement-datasets#local-authority-data (table Asy_D11).
We do publish details of the nationality of asylum seekers at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/asylum-and-resettlement-datasets (table Asy_D01 for all asylum seekers,:Asy_D09 for asylum seekers on support), but not by location. These figures are not available in a reportable format and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Data are published on a quarterly basis, with the next quarterly figures due to be released in late May 2023.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to extend the 20-working day deadline for asylum seekers to complete the streamlined asylum processing; and what criteria will be used to determine whether an applicant will receive a 10-day extension.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Claimants who receive an Asylum Questionnaire will have 20 working days to return this. If the questionnaire is not returned within the timeframe, claimants will automatically receive a reminder via post, email and phone (where they have made their contact details available to the Home Office), and a further 10 working days to complete the questionnaire. In addition, extension requests to complete the questionnaire can be submitted and all relevant circumstances will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
For more information, please see the guidance at: Streamlined asylum processing - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the number of people who will be issued with biometric residence permit cards expiring on 31 December 2024.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
We have been assessing the number of people who will have BRPs that expire at the end 2024 and who will have leave extending beyond that date, however, this data is not yet available. We are making plans to enable these people to transition to an eVisa before the end of 2024. More information on how to do this will be made available on gov.uk later this year.
Our aim is to fully transition to eVisas by the end of 2024 and for this reason we are no longer issuing BRPs with an expiry date after 2024, even when the person’s permission will expire after that date, nor are we redesigning physical BRPs or introducing new fines associated with them.
The BRP system forms part of our wider immigration and border system and is supported by officials across the department. In most circumstances, holders of current BRPs are expected to return them to UKVI when they make a new application or when their BRP has expired.
The “Code of practice about the sanctions for non-compliance with the biometric registration regulations” sets out the rules which govern the issuance of civil penalties. Where a holder of a biometric immigration document such as a BRP fails to comply with one of the requirements of the regulations, we may issue them with a civil financial penalty but are not required to do so.
Once we cease issuing BRPs and existing ones have expired and been removed from circulation, there will be no further BRPs issued, and they will have no extant use.
We keep resourcing under regular review to ensure we have the staff in place to deliver and support the transition from physical to digital proof of status.